EAST LANSING - Michigan State linebackers Mike Tressel coach is an optimist by nature, but during football media day on Tuesday, the Spartan assistant coach was beaming as he answered questions about his linebacker corps, which is as deep as it is talented.

"I am pretty excited," said Tressel. "We will miss Ryan Allison, but I feel like Brandon Denson will more than fill those shoes. Everybody else is back and then you bring in Chris Norman, TyQuan Hammock, Jeremy Gainer, those three are all very good football players, great football players, maybe, we'll see. But more than that, they are all passionate about Michigan State football and they are passionate about football. Those guys are putting in extra time from day one and that is rare.

"When you have the stable full of pretty much everything you have the year before and then you bring in three young guys like that, it's fun."

And Tressel is not downplaying expectations for his linebackers. He believes they are ready to live up to the hype and possibly even exceded the hype they have received in preseason magazines.